APTBS are possibly one of the loudest bands that I have ever seen. They’re so loud that at one point, the volume can make you nauseous. Hence, the video for “Disgust” arrives – how, apropos!
New-York based A Place To Bury Strangers announce their seventh album Synthesizer, out October 4th via Dedstrange, and present the lead single/video, “Disgust.” Synthesizer is the title of the album, but it is also a physical entity, a synthesizer made specifically for A Place to Bury Strangers’ seventh album (a synthesizer that you too, can own (in part), if you buy the record on vinyl). Meaning, the album cover itself doubles as a circuit board and functional synth for curious and enterprising fans. “It’s pretty messed up, chaotic. But it feels really human,” says frontman Oliver Ackermann, who demonstrates how to play the circuit board and functional synth album cover here. In an era of making music where so little is DIY and so much is left up to AI, never setting foot in a practice room or a home studio, making something that feels deliberately chaotic, messy, and human, is entirely the point. Synthesizer is a record that celebrates sounds that are spontaneous and natural, the kind of music that can only come from collaboration and community.
“Disgust” is a sonic assault on the senses. Fueled by frustration and raw emotion, the track features guitar lines punctuated by furious banging, creating a cacophony of sound. With a high-pitched, piercing intro designed to challenge listeners, it’s an unapologetically bold statement. The arpeggiating bass line, weaving in and out of the driving bass. “‘Disgust’ is a song I wrote that was inspired by the way I used to perform ‘Got That Feeling,’ a song by my old band Skywave,” Ackermann explains. “There was a long riding open note on the bass that enabled me to play the whole part with my fist in the air. I wrote this song just on open strings so it could be played with just one hand: dumb and fun.”
The song is accompanied by a video directed by BODEGA’s Ben Hozie and filmed by Joe Wakeman, and frames the band next to and within distorted images on TVs to “achieve a certain style of cine-cubism where the band members can be seen from multiple angles at once in the same frame.” “This sense of dissociative texture is exactly what A Place to Bury Strangers music feels like to me,” Hozie says, “I was trying to create a visual accompaniment to the disorienting buzzy speed of the band’s grooves and bliss of their distorted overtones.”
The writing sessions for Synthesizer started in the band’s Queens studio, shortly after the release of 2022’s See Through You. The band re-formed with a new lineup, Ackermann still at the helm, now featuring friends John and Sandra Fedowitz. This new iteration of the band was inspiring for Ackermann, “It felt like a fresh new thing,” he says, “I wanted to write songs everyone was excited about playing.” Indeed, the sense of connectivity is everywhere on the record. Synthesizer very much feels like a record of reinvention, of taking a carefully honed aesthetic and sound and cracking it wide open, gutting it, reimagining it. And of course, to ever so slightly reinvent one’s sound, one must also build a new instrument, thus again the synth in question. The resulting record is one that is romantic, colorful, loud as hell.
Synthesizer is one of A Place to Bury Strangers’ most live sounding records to date. This is a band that is meant to be witnessed in a live setting, where the songs take on a new energy in the presence of a crowd. That playful approach to making music and intentionality around live performance makes sense in the historical context of the band. Ackermann founded the storied DIY space (and now effects pedal factory) Death By Audio. DBA, as a venue, had a collaborative, creative spirit of chaos and collectivity. That essence appears all over the band’s work. “We’re artists,” Ackermann says, “Going to shows and bringing that imperfect and beautiful DIY ethos is important.” Imperfect and beautiful — that’s a good way to sum up Synthesizer. It is a raw collection of songs, wild and loud and fucked up just like the instrument itself.
Synthesizer Tracklist:
| 1. Disgust Listen 2. Don’t Be Sorry 3. Fear Of Transformation 4. Join The Crowd 5. Bad Idea 6. You Got Me 7. It’s Too Much 8. Plastic Future 9. Have You Ever Been In Love 10. Comfort Never Comes |
A Place To Bury Strangers 2024 Tour Dates:
Fri July 27 – Guimarães, PT – Lagosto Festival
Sun July 28 – Binic-Etables-sur-Mer, FR – Binic Festival
Wed July 31 – Hamburg, DE – Hafenklang
Thu Aug. 1 – Dresden, DE – Chemiefabrik
Fri Aug. 2 – Beelen, DE – Krach Am Bach
Sun Aug. 4 – Transylvania, RO – Rockstadt Extreme Fest
Mon Aug. 5 – Budapest, HUN – A38 $
Tue Aug. 6 – Bratislava, SK – Pink Whale $
Wed. Aug. 7 – Munich, – Milla Club $
Thu Aug. 8 – Aschaffenburg, – Colos-Saal $
Sat Aug. 10 – Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso $
Sat Sep. 21 – Groningen, NL – Vicefest V
Mon Sep. 23 – London, UK – The Shacklewell Arms
Tue Sep. 24– London, UK – No90 Live Hackney Wick
Wed Sep. 25 – London, UK – No90 Live Hackney Wick
Thu Sep. 26 – Manchester, UK – Deaf Institute %
Fri Sep. 27 – Dublin, IE – The Grand Social %
Sat Sep. 28 – Belfast, IE – Oh Yeah %
Sun Sep. 29 – Glasgow, UK – Stereo %
Mon Sep. 30 – Bedford UK – Esquire %
Thu Oct. 3 – Berlin, DE – Berlin Metropol %
Fri Oct. 4 – Copenhagen, DK – Loppen %
Sat Oct. 5 – Oslo, NO – Goldie %
Sun Oct. 6 – Gothenburg, SE – Fangelset %
Mon Oct. 7 – Stockholm, SE – Slaktkyrkan %
Wed Oct. 9 – Wroclaw, PL – Lacznik %
Thu Oct. 10 – Warsaw, PL – Hybrydy %
Fri Oct. 11 – Poznan, PL – 2progi %
Sat Oct. 12 – Bmo, CZ – Kabinet Muz %
Sun Oct.13 – Jena, DE – KuBa Jena %
Fri Oct. 25 – Washington, DC – Black Cat &
Sat Oct. 26 – Raleigh, NC – Kings &
Sun Oct. 27 – Asheville, NC – Grey Eagle &
Mon Oct. 28 – Atlanta, GA – The Earl &
Wed Oct. 30 – Houston, TX – White Oak &
Thu Oct. 31 – Austin, TX – Levitation &
Sat Nov. 2 – Phoenix, AZ – Valley Bar #
Sun Nov. 3 – Los Angeles, CA – Teragram Ballroom #
Mon Nov. 4 – San Francisco, CA – GAMH Psyched Fest #
Thu Nov. 7 – Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios #
Fri Nov. 8 – Seattle, WA – Freakout Festival ^
Sat Nov. 9 – Vancouver, BC – The Pearl
$ w/ Skelesys
% w/ Stella Rose
& w/ YHWH Nailgun
# w/ Pop Music Fever Dream
^ w/ The Black Angels, Martin Rev, The Black Lips & Shabazz Palaces
